Who Is A Kid Again - 1377 Words

Have you ever wanted to act like a kid again? Most of us have that moment when we have wanted to return to our childhood once more and seek out the innocence held in our young minds. But, for some, they can never go back to their childhood. A demographic in particular? Child soldiers, some 300,000, spread over the Middle East, and ranging anywhere from 16 to 8 years old. These kids have been taken away from their families, homes, and thrusted into the never ending plane of war, where they have to look up to insane morals and unjustified commanders blindly, and without question. Young boys and girls have had everything in their life taken from them, including their psyches and well being. And yet, some believe that to prosecute this†¦show more content†¦The article â€Å"The Child Soldiers Accountability Act of 2007† by Tom Malinowski, an Washington advocacy director, does a excellent job of highlighting the very common case in which child soldiers suffer. â€Å"...c hildren are often separated from their families, driven from their homes, and left with no opportunity to go to school. In situations of extreme insecurity, many believe that joining an armed group is their best chance of protection or survival.† Some may argue the choice children make, and claim it’s the child s fault. They claim that if the kid really wanted to be safe, it would fled to another country, not head into the war. A child should have more common sense, or should at least know that trusting these sources is the completely wrong thing to do. These claims, though, are not true. I think a direct quote from the article â€Å"Child Soldiers: Victims or Perpetrators† explains perfectly why; â€Å"...Once they are recruited the children become over reliant on their commanders for shelter, money, water, drugs and alcohol that they find an extreme difficulty to leave. Children at that young age will rarely ever have the same understanding as an adult.† This children are children, they don’t have a fully developed mind, and can’t possibly call out these fore thoughts before hand. Even after these kids have realized the darker side of the government or rebel group,